"THE RIGHT BOAT AND THE RIGHT CREW!"
Three hours later, under a new order from Washington, the gunboat's launch stole in alongside of a second schooner that had been pursued, overhauled and brought to a standstill.
This craft, however, proved to be a Nova Scotian vessel, with papers all right, a cargo beyond suspicion and no sign of the fugitive Gray aboard.
When news of this second failure had been flashed to Washington, and twenty minutes more had passed, the instructions came back out of the ether:
"Cruise slowly about where you are. Await new instructions, which will go forward to you as soon as we have fresh, reliable information from any source. See that your own search light is freely used through the night."
"'Puss in the Corner,' at sea," muttered Lieutenant Benson. "And we ain't even find a corner."
An hour later the young commander of the "Sudbury" turned in. Hal was on the bridge.
The gunboat cruised along lazily at about eight knots an hour. For some time Hal paced the bridge indolently, while the sailor lookout, forward, manipulated the searchlight, sending its beam in wide circles over the waters.
It was within half an hour of the time of calling the new watch, in fact, when the bow watch reported:
"Sail dead ahead, sir!"